Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Getting By in Portuguese

I spent the last week in Lisbon, Portugal. My husband was there on business, but I wasn't, so I was free to go wander around the city, see all the tourist traps, stuff myself silly with all sorts of delicious food, etc. All in all, a great time.

There was only one drawback: I don't speak any Portuguese at all. I did learn "obrigada", "bom dia" and a few other key phrases, but effectively I was mute. Now, I got lucky in that there were many helpful people who spoke English, and I was able to get by. I was also helped by context; for example, when I was buying a bottle of water, I knew the next phrase in a simple purchase was probably going to be the price, so I knew to get out my money. Gestures and other contextual indications let me complete transactions successfully.

Now what does this have to do with software?

It's all about language. I got by but didn't thrive in Portugal because I couldn't speak the common language. The same is true in software, and particularly in software management.

If you speak the common language - pipelines and queues, or REST APIs, or whatever your jargon is - you can thrive. If you don't speak the common language, you'll never do more than get by on context and people who are feeling helpful.

Many times Portuguese speakers don't understand you even if you know the right thing to say - if your accent is a little off. So I think it's not just about language, it's more about communication in general: being in tune with others, which is important for foreign countries and teamwork alike.